No. The Appeals Court held that a person who lost an eviction case in the Housing Court could not later “remove” that case to the Superior Court, because the Housing Court has jurisdiction over summary process cases and no statute or rule allows that kind of transfer. This is an unpublished Appeals Court decision under Rule 23.0, which courts may cite as persuasive but not as binding precedent.
What happened
A property company brought a summary process case in the Housing Court to recover possession of a residential property. After a trial, a jury awarded possession to the company in February 2019. The occupant filed a notice of appeal, and the Appeals Court docketed it, but that appeal was dismissed. More than five years later, on October 15, 2024, the occupant filed a new complaint in the Superior Court asking to remove the old Housing Court eviction case to the Superior Court. A Superior Court judge dismissed the complaint, ruling that there was no authority for that kind of removal, and the occupant appealed.
What the court decided
In Peristere v. WMS Properties, LLC, No. 25-P-53 (Mass. App. Ct. April 17, 2026) (Rule 23.0 decision), the Appeals Court affirmed the dismissal.
The occupant argued that the case had to be moved to the Superior Court as a matter of right because the Housing Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The court disagreed. Under G.L. c. 185C, § 3, the Housing Court has jurisdiction over civil actions under the summary process statute, G.L. c. 239, along with a broad range of housing problems that affect the health, safety and welfare of occupants. The Supreme Judicial Court has confirmed that the Housing Court may hear summary process cases in which an owner seeks to evict an occupant and recover possession. Federal Nat’l Mtge. Ass’n v. Rego, 474 Mass. 329 (2016).
The court also noted that the occupant himself had acknowledged, in his filings in the original case, that it was a summary process proceeding. So the Housing Court had jurisdiction. The court agreed with the trial judge that no statute or rule lets a party, on his own, pull a Housing Court eviction case into the Superior Court. It relied on the Supreme Judicial Court’s statement that hearing eviction cases is an express and essential function of the Housing Court. Cambridge St. Realty, LLC v. Stewart, 481 Mass. 121 (2018).
The company asked the Appeals Court to award it attorney’s fees for the appeal. The court denied that request.
What this means for you
If you are facing an eviction in Massachusetts, the Housing Court is a proper court to hear it. Arguing that the Housing Court has no power over a residential eviction is very unlikely to work. And there is no back door: once the Housing Court has decided your case, you cannot start a new lawsuit in the Superior Court to move the old case there.
The real lesson in this case is about timing. The occupant’s chance to challenge the eviction was the trial and a timely, properly pursued appeal. Under G.L. c. 239, § 5, a party who wants to appeal a summary process judgment must file a notice of appeal within 10 days after judgment enters. When an appeal is lost or dismissed, trying again years later in a different court is very unlikely to succeed. The other side may also ask the court to make you pay its legal fees, as the company did here, even though the court said no in this case.
That does not mean you have no options in Housing Court. The Housing Court can hear your defenses and counterclaims, such as bad conditions, retaliation, or discrimination, as part of the eviction case itself. The place to raise them is in the case you are already in, on time.
What to do now
- Read every court paper you receive and write down each date. Summary process deadlines, including the 10-day appeal deadline, are short.
- File your answer and any defenses or counterclaims in the Housing Court case itself, not in a separate lawsuit somewhere else.
- If you lose at trial, talk to a lawyer right away about whether an appeal makes sense and what bond or payments the court may require.
- If your appeal was dismissed, get advice before filing anything new. Some steps may still be available, but a new case in another court usually is not one of them.
- Keep copies of your lease, rent records, notices and photos in one place so a lawyer can review them quickly.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Housing Court deadlines are short.
